She was raped by five men. They beat her, tied her up, and inserted objects into her vagina. Then they left her badly injured in her home while her attackers disappeared into the darkness of a village in northern India. What happened this month in the state of Bihar has sparked national outrage, but also a sense of déjà vu: another gang rape.
The woman, 28 years old and a mother of four, reports that the men broke into her home on the night of June 11. Days later, doctors removed several of the objects that the attackers had used during the assault. Among them was a bullet casing. The image is so brutal that it has shaken all of India.
The story of Soma, a fictitious name used in a BBC report to refer to this new victim, encompasses all the elements that explain why sexual violence remains one of the great shames of the world's most populous country.
The assault took place in a village where the bathroom of the house was barely separated by a curtain. Her husband heard strange noises but thought they were coming from a stray animal. When he tried to enter, he found the door had been closed from the outside. He found her unconscious. Then came the second ordeal: according to the family, the police initially refused to file the report, and hospitals were slow to react. Only when the case exploded in the national media did suspensions, investigations, and official promises arrive.
For many Indians, the assault inevitably evokes the case that changed the country in December 2012. That night, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student was gang-raped inside a bus in Delhi and assaulted with an iron rod. She died days later. Massive protests forced the government to reform laws, increase penalties, and introduce the death penalty for certain sexual offenses. Leaders promised then that something similar would never happen again.
Instead, 14 years later, statistics and headlines tell a different story. According to official data from the National Crime Records Bureau, over 30,000 rapes are reported in India each year. That's more than 80 a day. Human rights organizations argue that the actual number is much higher because thousands of victims never report out of fear, shame, or family pressure. In rural areas, many women still encounter police who downplay the incidents, doctors ill-prepared to handle sexual assaults, and communities that consider the victim responsible for their own misfortune.
Soma's case coincided with a series of episodes that have once again brought attention to a violence that permeates all regions of the country. In Patna, the capital of Bihar, two sisters from Jharkhand reported that they were hired to perform at a family ceremony in exchange for 8,000 rupees (around 75 euros). There was a contract, transportation, and an appearance of legality. But, as they later recounted, they ended up being beaten and raped by several men. One suspect has been arrested, and the police are searching for the rest.
A few days later, also in Patna, two women members of a musical group reported being kidnapped and raped at gunpoint by a dozen men. The victims were cousins who had migrated from Jharkhand in search of work. The case sparked local outrage but barely managed to stay in the national headlines for a few days before being overshadowed by new assaults.
In Kalyan, an industrial city in the state of Maharashtra, a 16-year-old girl working as a garbage collector was lured into a rented house. There, according to the police investigation, two men aged 59 and 65 raped her. It was the neighbors who heard her screams and alerted the police. The officers arrived in time to rescue her.
Over two thousand kilometers away, in the state of Assam, a 15-year-old girl reported being repeatedly raped for months inside a moving vehicle. The police arrested five men after several residents intercepted a suspicious car and found the partially naked girl with several occupants. According to her account, it all started when strangers offered her food and convinced her to get into the vehicle. From there, a nightmare that lasted for months began.
Experts point out that behind these crimes lies a toxic combination of factors: extreme inequality, gender discrimination, judicial impunity, and a deeply rooted patriarchal culture. Although India boasts of having women in positions of power, from CEOs to political leaders, the reality for millions of women is marked by forced marriages, domestic violence, and everyday discrimination.
Furthermore, legal loopholes persist, drawing constant criticism from feminist organizations. One of the most controversial is that Indian law still does not recognize marital rape as a crime when the wife is of legal age. The issue remains pending final resolution in the courts and has become one of the main symbols of institutional resistance to expanding women's protection.
The discussion regained international prominence in March 2024 when Fernanda, a Brazilian tourist traveling the world on a motorcycle with her husband, Spanish Vicente, was gang-raped in the state of Jharkhand. The attackers brutally beat the man before assaulting the woman. The news spread worldwide and reopened a debate in India that never seems to close. Intellectuals, activists, politicians, and Bollywood stars wondered how, after more than a decade of reforms, group rapes continued to occur with such alarming frequency.